Giovanni Battista Cirri (1 October 1724 – 11 June 1808) was an Italian cellist and composer in the 18th century.

Biography

Cirri was born in

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via Em ...

in the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Region of Italy. He had his first musical training with his brother Ignazio (1711–1787) and was for a time organist at

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

. He also studied with Giovanni Battista Martini, in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. In 1739 he was admitted to Holy Orders but decided to pursue a musical career. From 1759 he was a member of the "Accademia Filarmonica". He was in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

during the first half of the 1760s and his first works were published including a "Symphony" which was performed at the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

on 5 April 1763. In 1764 he settled in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where he was employed as

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...

ian to the Duke of York and Albany and director of music to the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh. His first public appearance in London on 16 May 1764 was as an accompanist to

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist Marcella. He played solos at the eight-year-old Mozart's first public concert in London. He also participated in the

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd ...

Concerts which were very popular at that time. While in London he also composed numerous works for cello including the "Drei Sonaten für Violoncello und Basso continuo" (c. 1765). In the year 1780 he returned to his native Forlì to help his ailing brother at the Cathedral, though he played away from Forlì and in 1782 was principal cellist at the ''Teatro dei Fiorentini'' in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. In 1787 he succeeded his brother as "maestro di cappella" at Forlì Cathedral. He died in

in 1808.

Selected works

* Three duos for violin and cello (Op. 1) * Six sonatas for cello and basso continuo for His Royal Highness The Duke Of Cumberland (Op. 3) * Six trio sonatas for two violins and basso continuo (Op. 4) * Three duos for flute and cello (Op. 7) * Eight duos for two cellos for His Most Serene Highness the Prince Of Brunswick (Op. 8) * Six duos for violin and cello (Op. 12) * Six cello concertos (Op. 14) * Six sonatas for cello and double bass for the Honorable William Ward (Op. 15) * Sonatas for Cello and Keyboard (Op. 16)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cirri, Giovanni Battista 1724 births 1808 deaths People from Forlì Italian composers Italian male composers Italian classical cellists