Giuseppe Allevi, sometimes given as Giuseppe Levi, (born 1603 or 1604 – died July 18, 1670) was an Italian

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 ...

of the

Baroque period The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

. He was most likely born in the city of

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

. His

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 ...

''Le ninfe del Po'' premiered in that city for

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

in 1644. It was given in honor of

Francesco I d'Este Francesco I d'Este (6 September 1610 – 14 October 1658) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1629 until his death. The eldest son of Alfonso III d'Este, he became reigning duke after his father's abdication. Biography Born on 6 September 1610, ...

and

Maria Caterina Farnese Maria Caterina Farnese (18 February 1615 – 25 July 1646) was a member of the Ducal House of Farnese. She was Duchess of Modena as the first wife of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena. In some sources she is known simply as ''Maria Farnese ...

, the Duke and Duchess of Modena, who were visiting the city. By 1652 he was working as the

maestro di cappella ( , , ), 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 ...

at the Piacenza Cathedral; a position he held until his death on July 18, 1670. ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' states that some sources have incorrectly given his year of death as 1668. As a composer he mainly wrote

concertato Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a ''genre'' or a ''style'' of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. The term derives from It ...

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

References

1600s births 1670 deaths 17th-century composers Italian Baroque composers Italian male composers Musicians from Piacenza {{composer-stub