Giovanni Andrea Bontempi (ca. 1624 – 1 July 1705) was an Italian

castrato A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...

singer, later composer, historian, music theorist, and assistant ''

kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

'' to

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque music, Baroque composer and organ (music), organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of ...

at Dresden from 1657. He was born Giovanni Andrea Angelini, in

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

but later took the surname of his patron Cesare Bontempi. His ''

Il Paride ''Il Paride'' is an opera in five acts composed by Giovanni Andrea Bontempi who also wrote the libretto. The first Italian-language opera to be given in Dresden, it was first performed on 3 November 1662 at the Dresden Castle to celebrate the mar ...

'' was the first Italian-language opera to be given in Dresden. It was first performed in November 1662 at the

Dresden Castle Dresden Castle or Royal Palace ( or ) is one of the oldest buildings in Dresden, Germany. For almost 400 years, it was the residence of the electors (1547–1806) and List of rulers of Saxony, kings (1806–1918) of Kingdom of Saxony, Saxony from ...

to celebrate the marriage of Erdmude Sophia, the daughter of the Elector of Saxony, and Christian Ernst, Count of Brandenburg. He composed two other operas, both of which also premiered in Dresden: ''Dafne'' performed in 1671 to open the

Opernhaus am Taschenberg The (Opera house at the Taschenberg) was a theatre in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, built from 1664 to 1667 by Wolf Caspar von Klengel. It was the first opera house of the capital of Saxony, of the Elector of Saxony. Seating up to 2000 people, it was ...

, and ''Jupiter und Jo'' first performed in 1673. Bontempi spent the last years of his life in Brufa (near Perugia) and is buried in the chapel of SS. Cosma e Damiano there.

Works, editions and recordings

*New Method of Composing For Voices, by means of which one thoroughly ignorant of the art of music can begin to compose (1660)Cope, David (2000)
''The Algorithmic Composer''
pp. 6–7. A-R Editions.

References

Music theorists Italian Baroque composers Musicians from Perugia Pupils of Heinrich Schütz 1620s births 1705 deaths Castrati {{Italy-composer-stub